An Injury Reveals All
by Tenemur
Summary: What happens when Marinette gets injured? What will happen when Chat Noir notices something is wrong with Ladybug? First published fanfic. Short and sweet story. Hope you like it! :) I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.


"Cataclysm!" Chat called out. His hand was covered in the essence of destruction as he picked up the collar. It immediately disintegrated in his hand. A small purple butterfly popped out.

I opened my yo-yo and threw it at the butterfly. "Time to de-evilize." The butterfly was caught and I released a white butterfly from my yo-yo. "Bye-bye little butterfly." I threw the dog bone lucky charm into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" I yelled and everything was fixed.

Chat and I turned to one another. "Pound it." We said in unison as we bumped fists.

I heard the beeping from my earrings. I shrugged to Chat and threw my yo-yo to swing back to the school. "But out."

I landed behind the school right before I transformed back into my civilian self. "That was a close one Tikki. It seems like Hawkmoth has been sending a lot of akumas out lately."

My little red Kwami flew out of my purse with a cookie. "It seems like he's trying to wear you out. There is also Rena that we need to worry about. That means it's going to be more challenging from now on." I nodded and she flew back into her purse.

I walked around the school to the front and found all the students gathering around the front steps. Principle Damocles was about to make an announcement. "Everyone, I know that the akuma attacked during lunch. We will give you a shortened lunch break starting now. But we expect all of you to return after a half hour. That is all," he said as he left the stairs and joined the other teachers down the sidewalk.

The crowd dispersed and I saw a brunette waving her hand to me. "Hey girl, we're going to grab pizza. Are you in?" She was standing next to Adrien and Nino.

I held back an eye roll. She was always doing stuff like this. "Sure!" I yelled back. "My wallets inside. I'll be right back."

I ran into the building and up the stairs to our classroom. When I reached into my bag, I heard a rumbling noise coming from outside.

Tikki flew out of my purse with her eyes wide. "Another akuma?"

I looked out the window and couldn't see anything, but I did hear something. "I am Earth Stomper. People have stomped me into the earth and crushed me for two long. Time for me to pay them back."

I sighed. "Tikki," I yelled, but before I could finish there was a loud bang followed by another. The school started to crumble around me. I started running towards the exit, but it was too late. I tripped over a piece of the ceiling and turned over just in time to see a piece of the ceiling fall towards me. It landed on my side, trapping me where I laid. I tried pushing the rubble off of me but it was too heavy. Frantically, I looked around for help and things only got worse. The floor was slowly starting to crack and it was coming towards me. I thought all hope was lot when a baton broke through the window.

"Marinette!" I heard a familiar voice yell.

"Over here," I coughed.

Chat made his way over to me and pushed the rubble off. He picked me up and ran through the window. He placed me down behind a tree and I groaned in pain.

His eyes were wide with concern. "Princess, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I told him as strong as I could. "Go. Ladybug is going to need your help." He seemed to hesitate to leave me. "Go!" I yelled to him. _Stupid cat,_ I thought as he ran towards Earth Stomper.

Tikki flew out of my bad. "Marinette! Are you okay?"

"I'm in bad shape, Tikki. I don't know if I'll be able to fight," I said. Tears started to form in my eyes.

"I can help," Tikki said. "I have the ability to hold back your pain when your Ladybug. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to do it, so you will need to be quick."

I nodded and called out. "Tikki, spots on!" Immediately, Tikki was pulled into my earrings as I transformed.

When the suit covered by body, I felt like I wasn't even injured. "Thank you, Tikki. Hold on."

I ran to help Chat. When I got to his side, I saw Earth Stomper. He was completely rock, except for a briefcase he was holding. He smashed the briefcase against the ground and everything shook.

"Glad you could join, M'Lady. If you don't mind, I'll like to make this quick." He smiled at me, but I could still see remnants of concern in his eyes. "I'll give you one guess where the akuma is. But I must warn you, it's a _hard_ one."

I rolled my eyes and dodged a bolder coming towards us. I felt a hint of pain and knew that Tikki wouldn't last much longer. I attacked him. I tried to keep him busy, while Chat snuck around him, but when he went in to grab the briefcase, we were both thrown back. I threw my miraculous into the air and yelled., "Lucky Charm!"

I wasn't shocked when a ladybug blanket landed in my hands. "Chat distract him." He did as I told him. Chat keep him busy. I was able to come in and went straight at him. I quickly tied the blanket around his head. He flailed his arms trying to get it off. He dropped the briefcase in order to use both hands.

"Cataclysm!" Chat yelled as he destroyed the case.

I quickly changed the butterfly back to normal and threw the blanket into the air. I yelled, "Miraculous Ladybug!" and felt a stab of pain in my side. I tried not to show it, but thankfully Chat wasn't paying attention.

"Good job, my bug-a-boo, but I need to go. See you next time." Chat yelled as he headed for the direction he left me at.

Quickly, and painfully, I returned the the ground and hid behind a different tree than where Chat set me down. I transformed back and watched Tikki float to the ground.

"Tikki, are you okay?" I asked as I picked her up.

"Yes, just weak. I was able to heal you a little bit. There was internal bleeding, but now there is just a large scrape and lots of bruising." She said. I placed her in my purse as I heard Chat coming.

"Marinette!" He yelled when he got to the tree. He looked around and saw me by a different tree. "Hey there, Purr-incess. How are you doing?" He said softly.

"I'm okay, Chat. Really," I tried to sound reassuring, but even I could hear the strain in my voice.

"I need to get you to a hospital." He said as he leaned closer to pick me up.

My parents flashed through my mind. If they found out, I'd never be able to sneak away for Ladybug duties. "No!" I said abruptly. He hesitated. "Just take me home. It's not that bad."

He slowly picked me up. "Are you sure, Marinette? You could have internal bleeding."

I nodded and he started jumping across buildings to get me to my house. He stopped on my roof and entered my room. I was too injured to be embarrassed by him being in my room. He set me down on my chaise.

"Where is the first aid kit?" He asked.

"You don't have to-" I started, but Chat gave me a look saying I didn't have a choice. I sighed. "Closet. Top shelf, to the left," I replied.

I watched as Chat grabbed the kit and came over. He started grabbing supplies and once he had everything laid out, he froze. I could barely see the red tint growing on his cheeks under his mask.

"Um, Princess," he started. "I, uh, need you too lift up your shirt."

I felt my face heat up. "Oh, uh, right." I said as I listed my shirt. I looked at Chat and saw the blood drain from his face. "What's wrong, Chat?"

He shook his head and faked a smile. "It's just looks worse than I thought, but the scratch mark from the rubble doesn't look too deep. So you probably aren't bleeding internally." He said as he started to bandage me. I tried to remain still, but it took forever. I decided to take some pain meds while he was cleaning it. However, they made me really sleepy. He was finishing the bandages when he noticed I was barely awake. I heard him snicker.

"Come on, Princess. Let's get you into bed," he whispered as he carefully lifted me up and carried me to bed. In my tired state, I grabbed onto his arm and wouldn't let go. "I need to go now. My miraculous is beeping." He said. I felt him brush the hair off of my face and pull the covers up for me before I fell asleep.

When I woke up in the morning, I didn't feel any better than the day before. I was moving slow as I got ready and walked to school. When I got there, I saw Alya and Nino outside. Nino was hugging her and it looked like Alya was crying.

"Is everything okay?" I asked as I reached her.

Her head popped up at the sound of my voice. "You're alive?! Are you injured?!" She said looking me over.

I waved my hands to keep her from touching me. "I'm fine, Alya. Not a single scratch. Chat Noir got me out just in time."

She stepped back in shock. "Really? I thought he didn't get onto the scene until after the building started going down."

"The building was starting to collapse, but I was right by the window. He broke me out before the ceiling came down," I lied.

"What are we talking about?" Adrien asked as he walked up to join us. When I looked at him, he seemed shocked to see me.

"How Marinette is one extremely lucky dudette," Nino said.

Adrien looked turned back to me. His glance shifted to my stomach before returning to his friend.

"I'm so glad your safe, Marinette." Alya said. She suddenly had her arms around me to squeeze me in one of her side hugs. Sadly, I could feel her hip jabbing into my stomach. I closed my eyes and tried to not show the amount of pain I was in, but I felt the tears still start to form in my eyes.

"Let's head inside, dude," Nino said and Alya let go.

"Hey, we'll meet you in there. I have to ask Marinette something real quick." Adrien said.

Alya jumped at the chance to leave us alone together and grabbed Nino on her way to the school. I turned back towards Adrien.

He was looking at me with concern in his eyes. "Are you sure you're okay, Marinette? I was sure that I saw Chat Noir carrying you out of the building after it had already started collapsing."

I nodded to him and took a deep breath to steady my breathing. My side was throbbing. "It was close, but he got there just in time." He didn't seem content with my answer, so I added. "I might not have gotten out of there without a scratch, but it's just light bruising here and there. I promise. Just don't tell Alya. I don't want her to worry."

Adrien opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it and nodded. We went inside the school and went about our day.

During the school day, I tried to distance myself from my friends using the excuse that I was tired. I was excited when the day finally came to an end. I was on my way home when I heard a scream.

Tikki poked her head out of my bad and whispered to me, "there's an akuma." I groaned and found an alley to transform in. I saw Tikki fly out of my bag. "Be careful, Marinette. I can't hold back the pain this time. I am still weakened from the last time I did it."

I smiled at my little Kwami. "Thanks, Tikki. I'll be okay. Spots on!"

In seconds, I was transformed into Ladybug. I threw out my yo-yo and swung to find what akuma awaited Chat Noir and Ladybug this time.

I sighed when I saw Angust wrecking havoc. He was a giant again, but instead of being focused on lollipops, he was trying to reach Chat who was teasing him at the top of a building. I swung over to join him and had a rocky landing.

Chat cocked an eyebrow at me. "You okay there, Bug-a-boo?"

"Yeah, just unsteady today," I said as I fought the urge to hold my side. "I'm guessing his mom said no to the lollipop again?"

"The kid's got a sweet tooth. We all need a little sugar sometimes. Right, M'Lady?" Chat asked as he leaned closer, hoping to get some 'sugar.'

I rolled my eyes and scanned August for an akuma. "His binky? It's the only thing that he would have had on him before." I called my lucky charm and from the air dropped a long pole. However, I had a stab of pain from calling the lucky charm and dropped the pole.

Chat seemed confused. "Everything okay? You don't seem like yourself today." He said walking towards me.

Thankfully, Angust found something to stand on and grabbed Chat Noir. "Keep him busy, Chat." I said. He could not know about my injury.

I found what I needed to turn the pole into what looked like a lollipop. We tricked Angust into trading us his binky for it. After the akuma was de-evilized, we returned Angust to his mother and I swung away. A couple of buildings away I heard a silly cat following me and calling for me. I stop softly on a rooftop. He finally caught up to me.

"What do you want Chat? We're going to transform back." I asked annoyed. I needed more pain meds after moving around so much.

"I just wanted to make sure that you are okay. If you're sick or not feeling good, I can take care of patrol tonight so you can rest?" He offered. He looked like he was trying way too hard to keep the smile on his face, through the concern that was in his eyes.

"Sure. Yeah. I'm not feeling well," I turned to leave, but he reached out in a cutesy way. The problem with it was that he put his arms around my stomach and squeezed. I yelped in pain and dropped to the ground.

Chat's smile finally dropped and he let out his concern. "M'Lady! What happened? Did you get injured? I didn't think he even got that close to you…" he rambled on.

I stood up and his hands were hovering over me incase I would fall again. "I'm fine, Chat," I said and started slowly walking away from him.

This made him mad. He moved around to be in front of me. "You are NOT okay. You're hurt. Just tell me what happened. You seemed fine in our last battle. Let me help you."

"I can't tell you Chat! You can't help me. I'm fine!" I ran away from him and made sure to take the long way back to the bakery.

As soon as I got into my room, I locked my door and car in my desk chair. "Spots off, Tikki." I said and immediately hissed at the pain.

Tikki collapsed on my desk. "Marinette, are you okay?"

I nodded and gave her a weak smile. "Yes Tikki. Now go hide and have a cookie. I'm not sure if Chat is going to be stopping by or not."

She hit and I took my shirt off to look at my wound. When I saw the bandage, it was already covered in blood. I peeled it off and grabbed the extra gauze along with a water bottle from my desk. I started cleaning it as quickly as possible.

Before I had a chance to finish, Chat jumped in behind me. "Hello, Princess. How are you feeling today?" He asked as he walked over to me. Only when he was standing next to me did he realize that I was shirtless and bleeding. "Your wound…" he started. I looked up at him expecting to see concern, instead he looked confused. It was only a second before his eyes widened with shock. "What did you do?" He sounded more accusing than worried as he bent down to examine it.

"I was moving around too much. I didn't have a chance to check it before it was too late. I just started cleaning it up so it's not as bad as it looks." I said. I tried to stay as close to the truth as possible. I hated lying to him.

"Yeah. I bet you did." He said his eyes were still wide and I wished I knew what he was thinking. "You know," he stopped moving and looked me right in the eyes. "I'm pretty sure Ladybug was injured today."

I had to conceal my shock. "Is that so?" was all I could say.

"Well, here's the weird part: I don't remember seeing her get injured. Even during the last fight, now that I think back on it, she wasn't acting right then either." He said. "I'm sorry to ask you this 'cause I know you wanted to keep it a secret, but if your injured I need to know." He took a deep breath and I couldn't identify any emotions in his eyes. "Are you Ladybug?"

"I-I…" Why did he have to ask? " I, um…" I couldn't even form words. I was Ladybug and because of being unlucky Marinette, he figured it out.

His body relaxed. "You should have told me you were injured, M'Lady." He took my hand and kissed my knuckles lightly.

"Chat," I couldn't read his expression. It was either relief or disappointment, and I didn't want the latter. "I'm not. I can't be your Ladybug."

He looked me in the eyes and I could see the confusion there. "What do you mean? You aren't or you can't?"

"I can't be your Ladybug," I repeated. "You know the girl in the mask. I'm not her. I'm clumsy, stupid Marinette."

"I know your not stupid, Princess." I could still hear the questioning confusion in his voice.

"No. I am. I might know what I'm doing when it comes to school or video games, but with everything else, I'm useless. I can't even talk to the boy I like at school. I'm not… I'm not the person you think is Ladybug." I ranted. I could feel the tears coming to my eyes and I willed them away. I couldn't cry in front of him.

"That's not what I see. I see a girl who tries her hardest to make everyone smile. I see a girl that might not be the most coordinated, but is so passionate that whatever she does is amazing. You don't do things half-way. You make sure that things are done to the best of its ability. You're amazing, Marinette. I can't believe I didn't realize it was you until this injury." He was smiling at me so warmly that I couldn't help smiling with him. Then with the mention of my wound, it started hurting again.

I moved to adjust the way I was sitting and winced in the process. "I guess we should finish this up."

He nodded and continued to help me rebandage it. Afterwards, I took some more of the pain med. As soon as I started to get sleepy, I cursed under my breath. I really needed to get some new pain meds.

I tried to stay awake while Chat and I talked. We talked as though we were normal kids and it was relaxing. I was starting to get loopy from keeping myself awake. I couldn't even tell if Chat noticed until I suddenly interrupted him.

"When can I know who you are? I know we, or I, said not to share our identities, but does it matter now that you know me?" I paused and thought about what I said. "I mean now that you know who I am."

He giggled slightly and guided me over to my bed. "Soon. Right now, I think if I did show you who I was, you wouldn't even remember."

I sighed. "Fine." I made him laugh as he got me into my bed and laid down next to me.

"Time for you to go to sleep, Marinette." I heard him say, but my eyes were already closed.

When I woke up, Chat was gone and I was late for school. I decided to risk the pain and run to school. Tikki warned me against it, but I took some first aid stuff to bandage it up at school just in case. When I finally arrived, I saw everyone walking into the school as the warning bell went off. I made it just in time.

I stopped running and my vision went blurry for a second. I leaned over for a minute to catch my breath and hopefully stop my side from pulsing.

"Marinette," I heard someone yell. I heard footsteps run up to me. "Are you okay? Did you seriously just run here?" I nodded. "You really need to take more care of yourself." The mystery guy said softly and I heard him rustling around in his bag. "He's some water and some pain meds. I know the ones you have make you drowsy."

My eyes shot wide open. Chat was the only one around me last night. I straightened up almost too fast and saw Adrien handing me a water bottle and a bottle of pain meds. But Adrien can't... Chat can't be… Adrien is Chat Noir. Oh My God. Then, I started laughing slightly.

Adrien gave me a Chat Noir grin. "What's so funny, Purr-incess?"

"You're Chat," I whisper. "And your in love with Ladybug. And Ladybug has been turning Chat down because Marinette is in love with Adrien." I stopped talking and turned red, but I was still awkwardly laughing.

I looked up to the sound of Adrien bursting into laughter. "Wait, so you've been turning me down for me?" I nodded. Then, he stopped laughing and turned red as he processed the rest of what I said. "Wait… Y-you love me?"

"Um," I looked away from him. "Yeah."

"I love you too Marinette," I looked up at him with wide eyes. He gently put his arms around my waist, carefully avoiding my wound.

Then he leaned in to kiss me. I closed my eyes and leaned into him. I felt his hot breath on my lips and…

"Hey Marinette?" I heard a voice say and we paused. "Are you out here?" It was Alya. "OH MY GOD GIRL!" Yup. Definitely Alya.

I turned my head to see Alya jumping up and down at the top of the stairs. I could see the amount of questions growing that she was going to ask me later by her facial expression.

I felt Adrien next to me lean into my ear. "We'll have to finish this later, Bug-a-boo." My face turned bright red and he grabbed my hand as he slowly led me into the school.


End file.
